TPD investigating pair of unrelated homicides

THOMASVILLE | Detectives with the Thomasville Police Department are investigating two homicides that occurred within 24 hours of each other on Saturday.

By Darrick IgnasiakThe Dispatch

THOMASVILLE | Detectives with the Thomasville Police Department are investigating two homicides that occurred within 24 hours of each other on Saturday.TPD Lt. Mike Howard said the deaths of Darrell Wayne Turner and David Braswell are unrelated. Officers first responded to an apartment building of Thomasville Church Homes at 815 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive at 2:27 a.m. Saturday in reference to a stabbing. Later that day, the TPD officers responded to a residence at 211 Pine St. at 10:38 p.m. in regard to a disturbance and shots being fired.Turner, according to an arrest warrant, was the victim in the Martin Luther King Jr. Drive homicide. Eric Allen Whisnant, 28, of High Point, has been charged with murder in Turner's death and was placed in the Davidson County Detention Center under no bond.Officers found a man lying in a parking lot with a stab wound to his abdomen, according to a TPD news release.Turner was transported to Thomasville Medical Center where he later died from his injuries. Police later charged Whisnant with murder.A motive has not been released in either case.Howard said Turner and Whisnant were among six to eight people attending a party at 815 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The lieutenant said he couldn't comment on whether alcohol was involved.Timothy Hipp, the property manager of Thomasville Church Homes, said neither Turner nor Whisnant lived at Thomasville Church Homes. He said the apartment complex, which is low-income subsidized housing, is taking measures to address Saturday morning's incident. Hipp said the safety of the Thomasville Church Homes residents, including children, is a priority and the apartment complex works closely with the TPD. He said the apartment complex has not experienced violence in the past four years, has a TPD satellite location on its property and provides after-school programs for children.Kay McCray, 29, said her mother lives at Thomasville Church Homes. She said her mother, who wished to not be identified, heard some of the commotion involving the party and learned the next day there was a death involved. McCray said her sister also had blood on her vehicle.“I hate it,” McCray said of the incident. “… It's very scary, like my sister was really distraught. She felt horrible thinking somebody lost their life and their blood was on her car.”Shan Rashad, a cashier at Kings Food Mart at 805 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, said business has been slow since Saturday's incident. However, he expects it to pick back up.“A lot of people are scared, especially at night,” Rashad said.In the second homicide, Howard said David Braswell was pronounced dead at 211 Pine St. in Thomasville upon arrival of medical personnel.Officers responded to 211 Pine St. at 10:38 p.m. in reference to a disturbance and shots being fired. They arrived to find a white male in the residence with a gunshot wound. Howard said Monday that detectives are working alongside the Davidson County District Attorney's Office, and no arrest has been made in connection to the death. A person of interest has been identified, and charges are pending the completion of the investigation, the TPD stated in a news release issued Sunday.Howard, who confirmed Braswell lived at 211 Pine St., said Monday morning that he couldn't comment any further on the case.According to a search warrant executed at the Pine Street home, officers responded the residence to encounter a juvenile who stated “Daddy, is dead.” The search warrant further stated a woman told officers that the shooter left and her father had shot the victim.Officers removed other juveniles from the residence, according to the search warrant.“Officers observed a white male subject lying down with a small injury consistent with a small-caliber gunshot wound to the upper left side of his torso,” TPD Det. Chet Jarrell wrote in the search warrant. “During the initial protective sweep officers advised they observed a .22 caliber spent shell casing.”Officers seized a .22-caliber shell casing found on a couch, a .22-caliber shell casing found near the bedroom door with the victim, two Canadian Mist bottles, an unspent .22-caliber bullet found under the mattress of a bed and a section of interior sheetrock with a bullet hole from the bedroom in which the victim was located.The Thomasville Rescue Squad is located across the street from the residence in which Braswell lived. Scott McCaskill, the rescue squad's assistant chief, said the Pine Street neighborhood is “generally real quiet.”“Very, very little activity goes on around here,” McCaskill said, adding he didn't know any of the parties involved in the shooting. “This, for a lot of reasons, has become a semi-transient neighborhood over the last 10 or 15 years. A lot of the properties are rental apartments, single-family housing. You don't get to know your neighbors. This was once an upper-middle-class neighborhood, very stable. We even had members living in this neighborhood. Now, that's no longer the case.”The rescue squad, McCaskill said, assisted the TPD and Davidson County Emergency Medical Services at the scene. McCaskill said he didn't know of the circumstances involving the incident.“The detectives were here for hours – literally,” he said. “I know Chief (Jeff) Insley was here with them. By this (the rescue squad) being a satellite police station, they used our board meeting room and some of our facilities to question some folks. They were in here for several hours.”McCaskill called it odd for two homicides to occur within one weekend.“Thomasville is not that kind of town normally,” he said. “Like all cities of this size, we have our share of issues but to have two homicides that close together. … that is almost unheard of.”Anyone with information concerning the homicides is asked to call Thomasville Crime Stoppers at 476-8477 or 475-4284.

Darrick Ignasiak can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 217, or darrick.ignasiak@the-dispatch.com.